In its publication, Eurostat provides an overview of the situation in the 26 member states.
The data, Eurostat specifies, includes all deaths regardless of causes, but can be useful to assess the direct and indirect effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the EU population.
Spain, Italy, and France are the most affected countries. The peak was between late March and early April, when more men than women were reported missing. 96% were over 70 years old. Bergamo was the city with the highest percentage: + 895%
If it wasn’t Covid, it was diseases neglected due to the fear of going to the hospital or underestimated compared to the fear of the pandemic. However, surely, in the EU states, between last March and June, the spike in deaths was remarkable, with 168,000 more deaths than during the same period in 2019.
The increase in deaths is recorded not only compared to the previous year but also compared to the average number over the same period during the four-year period 2016-2019.
The highest number of additional deaths was recorded in Spain (48,000), closely followed by Italy with 46,000.*
After Italy, in the sad list of additional deaths, there is France (30,000), Germany, and the Netherlands (about 10,000 each). The remaining 21 member states all recorded 25,000.
Bergamo in Italy and Segovia in Spain are the cities that saw the largest increase in deaths.
In any case, the analysis of weeks 10 to 26 of the year at a regional level indicates that the highest peak in deaths occurred in central Spain and northern Italy.
The peak of 36,000 more deaths on average than the four-year figure was reached in the week between late March and early April. Since early May, fewer than 5,000 more deaths have occurred each week compared to the four-year average. In the week following mid-June, 2,200 fewer deaths were recorded in 2020.
Out of the 168,000 more victims than during the previous 4 years, 161,000 (96%) were aged 70 or over. During the same period, this age group represented 76% of all deaths in the population in 2016-2019 and 78% of all deaths in 2020.
